Slightly frustratingly, it seems neither Nintendo of America or
Europe's web team can spell Celica's name properly. I've even mailed
them both to correct this problem, but to no avail; oh well, at
least I tried!

However if you purchase the packs, you can also access the second
episode (Rogues and Redeemers 2 or The Future Past 2) right now, even
though they're scheduled for next week. Then again, if you play them
now, there's less to look forward to next week... Decisions,
decisions...

Just like before, we'll be getting the episodes
slightly out of order as The Future Past is one of the final
episodes released in North America and Japan. Slightly bizarrely, it
seems we'll indeed be getting the Lost
Bloodlines and Smash Brethren packs afterwards; judging by the
current schedule, we'll probably have to wait until at least 27th
June before we see those packs...

Official Nintendo Magazine interview (30th May
2013)

Official Nintendo Magazine (UK) has posted an
interview with Intelligent Systems, discussing the development
of Fire Emblem: Awakening.

The developers were quizzed again (the first time was during their interview with 8-4) on the character's lack of
feet--something I'm sure many fans can relate to.

Week 7 European DLC + SpotPass (29th May 2013)

While the DLC has come to an end in North America, Europe still has
a long way to go.

(Don't forget that, during this map, all Swordmasters fight in a
yukata!)

At this stage, there are 9 DLC episodes (and 3 DLC packs) available
in Europe, with 16 more episodes to come. I just hope Nintendo of
Europe will crank up the speed a little bit... Especially when, and
I hate to sound like a broken record, there's still no sign
of the Lost Bloodlines pack.

Still, I suppose we're not doing too badly; North America only had
one more episode than us during the same week.

Following the tragic events surrounding Queen Emmeryn, Chrom and company desperately
try to escape Plegia. However they're faced with a vicious storm and
Plegian soldiers hot on their heels; their chances of escape falling
with each passing moment. And as if to add insult to injury,
unexpected disaster strikes... Will Chrom manage to bring all his
men safely to Ylisse? Or is it time for Robin to say her final
words...?

The story surrounding the Plegian escape and the untold desperate
struggle in the game's Chapter 10 begins here...!"

The Apotheosis episode sees Chrom and gang face off against waves
and waves of the Outrealm's greatest warriors--fiendish men and
women who laugh at maximum stats and fair Skills. Skilled players
who make it to the end of a 5-round ordeal can recruit Katarina from
Heroes of Light and Shadow.

However that's not all, as players can fight an alternate set of
harder enemies if they trump the first wave of enemies within 2
turns. At the end of this alternate route, the merchant Anna herself
will enter the fray. Completing this route nets you a Supreme
Emblem, which you can place next to your 99,999 Renown
Supreme Emblem for bragging rights or something.

Finally, although the paid DLC is over, there are still a few pieces
of SpotPass content to be released--two
legendary bows and tomes (although if you own Infinite Regalia, you'll probably have
these items by now).

Week 6 European DLC + SpotPass (23rd May 2013)

Treasure-hunters in Europe can now access the DLC episode Infinite Regalia and begin their quest
to loot rare and legendary weapons from other worlds.

(Yes, I do! Give me that Book of Naga!)

Rather frustratingly, there's still no sign of the Lost Bloodlines
episodes or any new DLC packs since the Golden Pack and Scramble
Pack were announced for Week 2. For reference, North America
received Lost Bloodlines 1 in Week 4,
while Japan had it as early as Week 2.

At this point I'm beginning to wonder if we're getting Lost
Bloodlines out of order... I noticed earlier that the official site
has images from Rogues and Redeemers before Lost Bloodlines and
Smash Brethren.

I was browsing the Spanish fan site Fire Emblem: Wars of Dragons
when I noticed an interesting news
article. In an interview with the Spanish magazine "Hobby
Consolas", published on 22nd April, the developers remarked that Fire
Emblem: Awakening could have been the last game in
the Fire Emblem series if sales weren't up to
scratch.

The full quote, translated by Albafika:

Question: Fire Emblem has had a long lifetime. Do you get the
feeling it gets harder to release a new episode every time?

Yamagami: No doubt. Truth be told, sales are dropping. The
sales manager of Nintendo, Mr. Hatano, told us that this could be
the last Fire Emblem. Due to this progressive descend on sales, they
told us that if the sales of this episode stayed below 250,000
copies, we'd stop working on the saga. I remember when I came back
from the meeting and told the team "My God, what are we gonna do?!
The end has come!". Our reaction was clear: if this was going to be
the last Fire Emblem, we had to put everything we always wanted to
include. That's how this new project was born!

Curiously, there's a similar statement in the interview in the June 2013 issue of Nintendo Dream.

Translated by shadowofchaos:

Maeda: Yes, we can say that now, but I have to admit there
was a time during development when we thought "This might be the end
of the FE series if Awakening doesn't sell well".

(It's game over for Marth, but not the series... at least not
yet.)

Fortunately for us, sales of Awakening far exceeded
expectations, selling around 500,000 copies in Japan and over
240,000 copies in North America. If European sales are similarly
strong, the game may very well be the first Fire Emblem
title to reach a million sales worldwide.

However, I think it's shocking to know that the series could have
ended if things had taken a different turn. Perhaps the fact that Heroes
of Light and Shadow didn't get localised was a sign that
Nintendo was getting ready to pack the bags with the series...

Nintendo Dream June 2013 issue (21st May 2013)

The issue's been out for a month, but if anyone's interested and
doesn't already know, the June 2013
issue of Nintendo Dream includes all 11 chapters of the Fire
Emblem: Awakening official comic (plus some extras, like
design sketches and comments) in one booklet and an interview with
the development team.

You may have seen an image of younger Emmeryn, Chrom and Lissa, with
their respective ages, floating around--that image is from the
booklet.

Of particular interest to me, the staff interview includes an image
of the Series 2 DLC promotional artwork, featuring Lucina in a
bikini (see above), which hasn't appeared outside of the Series 2 launch trailer.

Surprisingly, the staff actually mention the censoring
of Tharja's CG in Summer Scramble
(in North America); apparently it was edited to comply with ratings.
The June issue came out on 20th April, while Summer Scramble was
released on 2nd May, so it's amusing to know some Japanese fans knew
about the censored CG before us!

Chrom's quest in the alternate future continues today for North
American fans with the release of The
Future Past 2.

With this episode's release, there are only two more DLC episodes
left: The Future Past 3 and the DLC finale--known as "The Strongest
One's Name" in Japan and something to do with "Apotheosis" here.

Depending on what Nintendo's planned out, next week will either be
the last week or the penultimate week of DLC.

Week 5 European DLC + SpotPass (16th May 2013)

European fans can rejoice: Summer Scramble,
the second episode in the Scramble Pack, is now out!

(Don't forget that all Sorcerers fight in their swimsuit!)

Surprisingly, Tharja's swimsuit CG is not censored like in
the North American version. However I've heard
that at least one suggestive(?) line has been changed. So it would
seem Nintendo of Europe is more bothered about suggestive text than
imagery.

Meanwhile, on the SpotPass front,
players can now recruit characters from Shadow Dragon and unlock
Side Story 19: Irreconcilable Paths.

The Future Past 1 follows Chrom's gang in an alternate future where
their children struggle hopelessly against Grima's minions. Of note,
the Future Past episodes are heavy in story content and offer a
glimpse of the children's future past lives (does that even make
sense?). The new episode costs $3.00 separately or you could
purchase all three Future Past maps for $6.50.

Week 4 European DLC + SpotPass (8th May 2013)

Today's European DLC is out a day earlier than usual; some fans
speculate it's because this Thursday is a public holiday in Germany,
where Nintendo of Europe is based.

Next week, we'll be getting Summer
Scramble, which has been a centre of
controversy lately. It'd be nice if we got the Lost Bloodlines
Pack too... I honestly can't wait to grab the Dread Scroll and the
Paragon Skill!

Next drama CD instalment announced (5th May
2013)

According to Inside,
Red Entertainment, the producers of the Fire Emblem: Awakening Drama
CD, announced the next instalment in the drama CD series at the
Japanese anime event "Machi Asobi Vol. 10". Apparently, details will
be revealed online at a later date.

Of note, the voice actresses for Tharja/Cherche, Maribelle and
Olivia/Nah were present as guest speakers at the Fire Emblem:
Awakening event. The latter two weren't involved in the first drama CD, but I wonder if they'll be in the
next one?

High resolution assets (3rd May 2013)

If you've been around the Fire Emblem community or certain
gaming sites the past couple of days, you'll probably have noticed
tons of comments relating to the censoring of Tharja'sassets.

Well, today, thanks to m|m from Path of Valour, I bring you
assets of a completely different yet still wonderful nature.

Just pop over to the Fire Emblem: Awakeningimage gallery and you can find just
under 50 pieces of super high-resolution artwork. People with slow
internet beware: some of the pieces are downright massive!

Some observant fans have noticed that Nowi and Tharja's
conversations in the latest DLC episode Harvest
Scramble have been changed slightly in the European (English)
version.

(Images from the North American version; courtesy of shadowofchaos)

Originally, in the North American and Japanese versions, Nowi
pesters Tharja about her "boingy bits", which are apparently the
talk of the town.

However in the European version, Tharja's most desired assets are
her sleek and silky hair instead.

European Letter Box stationary (27th April
2013)

Awakening players in Europe were sent a special Fire
Emblem: Awakening-themed letter via Letter Box on 25th
April.

Like in Japan and North America, the letter
contains a message from the series producer, Tohru Narihiro

(Image credits to shadowofchaos)

The stationary design is the same as the Japanese one and the second
North American one, but with the logo swapped for the European
version.

Week 13 DLC + SpotPass (25th April 2013)

The North American DLC has really come a long way; today, fans can
enjoy the last Challenge map (not counting the Apotheosis map), Roster Rescue, and the first Scramble
map, Harvest Scramble.

On the other hand, the European DLC has only just entered its 2nd
week, although European fans were able to play Harvest Scramble ahead of their American
cousins (only by a few hours though). We also get The Golden Gaffe too.

As for SpotPass content, North American players can access the final
sidequest, Paralogue 23, which features the mysterious warrior,
Priam.

Meanwhile, European players can recruit characters from The Sacred Stones, as well
as obtain their first bonus legendary weapon--the Tyrfing from Genealogy
of the Holy War.

European DLC schedule (22nd April 2013)

Yesterday I was pondering whether Europe would be receiving a
different DLC schedule compared to North America; it seems that is
indeed happening.

In particular, Harvest Scramble is one of the first Series 2 DLC
episodes released in Japan and hasn't been released in North America
yet (although it'll likely be released this Thursday alongside
Roster Rescue). Personally I think it makes a lot of sense to
release Harvest Scramble now, seeing as it's a 1-star difficulty
map. The map's also packed full of content, featuring dozens of
conversations between the story characters.

You can purchase the new maps in the Golden/Scramble Pack for
€2.49/£2.29 individually or as a pack for €5.99/£5.39.

European DLC and ramblings (21th April 2013)

The European official site has added
details for the 2nd and 3rd maps in the Champions Pack.

(Click image to load site)

Curiously, Champions of Yore 2 is
apparently scheduled for 2nd May, which is roughly 2 weeks away.
Does this mean European fans will get a different map next Thursday?

Another oddity, Champions of Yore 3
is listed for release on 8th May, which is a Wednesday and not a
Thursday (the day the eShop generally updates).

In other European news, the Japanese voice glitch appears to have
been fixed for the European release. In the North American version,
resetting the game caused the character voices to automatically
revert to English whenever Japanese voices are selected.

Sadly, the StreetPass legacy glitch still seems to be present. For
those not informed about the glitch, if you include legacy
characters from DLC or SpotPass in your StreetPass Team, Awakening
players who tag you will receive a randomly generated team
instead of your StreetPass Team. Well, there goes my plan of having
a StreetPass Team full of mage girls from various games...

Finally, you may have noticed I was pushing a UK-based Nintendo "Multiplayer
Madness" activity recently. If you're interested, I wrote a
brief report about the event here.

Awakening out now in Europe! (19th April 2013)

It's the moment European fans have been waiting for! Fire
Emblem: Awakening is now officially out (on the eShop at
least)!

Some people (myself included) received the game slightly early, but
now everybody can get their hands on the game : )

Week 12 DLC + SpotPass (18th April 2013)

For a change, Nintendo of America didn't announce beforehand what
DLC would be coming this week.

However, as many probably expected, the second Challenge DLC Five-Anna Firefight is now available.

This map sees Chrom engage in a rescue mission when five
Anna-sisters get trapped in a fiery cavern. Upon full completion of
the mission, players can recruit Catria from Shadow Dragon.

On the SpotPass front, the final Bonus
Team "Other" is now
live; this team features a variety of villains from across the
series.

North American sales update + Swapnote
stationary 2 (17th April 2013)

According to Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, Fire
Emblem: Awakening has currently sold 240,000 copies in North
America, with a third of those being digital sales. (Source)

For reference, Awakening sold 180,000 copies in its first month in North America, while it's thought
to have sold almost 500,000 copies in Japan. At this rate, providing
European sales are similarly strong, Awakening could very
well be the first Fire Emblem title to reach 1 million
sales worldwide.

In other news, another Awakening Swapnote stationary has
been sent to North American fans. It also comes with a message from
Tohru Narihiro, the series producer.

(Image credits to shadowofchaos)

The design is the same as the Japanese
stationary, but with the Japanese logo swapped out for the
North American one.

If you're a North American gamer who got the Japanese stationary
beforehand, the North American version will automatically overwrite
its Japanese counterpart when saved. Although, if you downloaded the
recent Swapnote update, you can simply delete the North American
stationary and view a note with the Japanese stationary to get it
back.

European gamers, however, won't be able to save the North American
stationary if they already have the Japanese version (or at least I
can't!). Perhaps you can save it if you don't have the Japanese
version?

European DLC pricing (17th April 2013)

In their latest Nintendo
Direct, Nintendo of Europe announced the prices of the
upcoming DLC episodes.

Each of the three Champions of Yore maps will cost €1.99/£1.79
individually or €4.99/£4.49 as a pack.

Like in Japan and North America, Champions
of Yore 1 will be free for a limited period of time; during
this time, the Champions Pack will be reduced to €3.49/£2.99 to
compensate.

Unfortunately, my Japanese knowledge is nowhere near good enough to
tell you what's going on in the update.

However, when the voice cast were asked what they'd like to see in
relation to future Awakening developments, there were all
kinds of answers, such as an anime, browser game, social game,
dating game, MMO, etc. I believe somebody even wanted a real life
attraction where you can fight with the weapons...

European puzzle panel (12th April 2013)

Japanese and North American gamers have had it for a while, but the
Fire Emblem: Awakening puzzle panel is now available in
Europe (and Australia too).

(Image from the North American version; credits to shadowofchaos)

You can access the panel by receiving a SpotPass update for
StreetPass Mii Plaza; doing this also gives you a new piece to start
off with. Sadly I only got a blue piece : (

Death's Embrace is the first of three maps in the tough-as-nails
"Challenge Pack", which also includes "Five-Anna Firefight" and
"Roster Rescue". You can buy the episode separately for $3.00 or as
a pack for $6.50.

The episode itself sees Chrom and gang battle a demented sorcerer in
a dungeon filled with spikes that send your characters to 1 HP at
the beginning of each turn. Upon full completion of the mission,
players can recruit Est from Shadow Dragon.

On the SpotPass front, players can now
recruit characters from Binding
Blade and access the hotly-anticipated Paralogue 22:
Wellspring of Truth.

For reference, I will be referring to the sixth game as "Binding
Blade" within the Awakening section, but I will continue to
use its old name "Sword of Seals" elsewhere (until the game or a
remake of it is released in English).

This episode marks the end of the first series of DLC and sees Chrom
challenge the mightiest warriors of light and darkness. Upon
completion of the mission, players can recruit Ike from Path of
Radiance and obtain the Limit Breaker Skill, which raises a
character's maximum stats by 10 points.

Apparently GAME (Spain) already mentioned this, but it appears the
artbook will be hardcover unlike the North American version.

Furthermore, according to the preview images, it seems the European
artbook may contain different art, such as the art of Tiki and Nowi
lying in the fields.

On a related note, Grainger
Games is offering a Fire Emblem: Awakening themed
wallet with pre-orders, while stocks last.

(Click image to load site)

Oh man, time to cancel my pre-order for the second time...

Finally, I've noticed some web adverts for Awakening popping
up recently. I attempted to save one of the adverts, but totally
failed, so I did the next best thing and recorded it as a video,
which you can watch here.

North American Top 10 characters (7th
April 2013)

Slightly later than promised, the Top 10 cover photo, which
celebrates the results of the recent character poll,
is now
up.

(Click image to load site)

For reference, Nintendo of America stealthily added a Top 10
wallpaper to their website a few days ago.

Bizarrely, Nintendo of Europe has the same cover photo on their
site too...

Fire Emblem: Awakening Drama CD (5th
April 2013)

A year after the game was released in Japan, Awakening is
receiving the drama
CD treatment on 24th April 2013.

"It's been a year since the game was released in Japan. We're proud
to announce the Fire Emblem: Awakening Drama CD! Days after Prince Chrom's wedding,
a battle of love over Robin breaks out! What final words did Queen Emmeryn
leave behind? Just when peace has seemingly returned to Ylisse, the
shadows of the Risen spring anew... The game's story, which recounts
the fate and bonds that intertwine Chrom, Robin and their
companions, will at last be told in Drama CD form!"

Celica, the poster girl of this episode, can't seem to catch a break
though. First her name was misspelled as Cecilia (a completely
different character from Binding Blade) in the official DLC trailer and a second
time in the Facebook announcement for this episode (although this
was later corrected).

Now it seems this mistake's even carried onto the actual game,
although luckily she has her correct name as a character.

Meanwhile, on the SpotPass front, players can now recruit characters
from Thracia 776.

UK bonus artbook + Top 10 wallpaper
(4th April 2013)

GAME (UK) have at last acknowledged the limited edition artbook as a
pre-order
bonus when purchasing Fire Emblem: Awakening; the
offer applies to both the game and the 3DS XL bundle.

The offer was secretly outed by Nintendo earlier
and could also be found on GAME's website in other European
territories, but there you go!

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone following the DLC, but the Rogues and Redeemers 2 episode has
been confirmed for 4th April 2013. (Source)

This episode sees Chrom aid the forces of darkness in their eternal
battle with the forces of light. Upon completion of the map, players
can add Celica from Fire Emblem: Gaiden to their
ever-growing party. Like the previous episode, it costs $3.00 by
itself or $6.50 for all three Rogue maps.

On a different note, you can now watch Awakening's opening
movie in glorious HD here
(credits to TheRealLinkmstr). The HD version was included
with the Fire Emblem: AwakeningOriginal Soundtrack, which came out
a couple of days ago.

I was kind of bored, so I grabbed a few stills (special thanks to Matt).

In comparison to the Iwata
Asks interview, this one is more fan-focused.

Here are my picks:

(An interesting fact about Paralogue 18)

Higuchi: [...] We started experimenting with just a single
map in order to see how practical all our different ideas were...
[...]

8-4: Did that test map end up in Awakening in any form?

Yokota: [Yes,] the map we used was actually the first stage
from Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo. [...] It wasn't used in the main
story of Fire Emblem Awakening but it was used in the side story.

(So where did the feet go?)

(Regarding the numbering system)

8-4: This one's super random, but, we noticed you often refer
to Awakening as the 14th game in the series. But many fans consider
it the 13th game. Which is it?

Yokota: Ah, that. (laughs) Well, there was a version of Fire
Emblem released for Nintendo's Super NES Satellaview service in
Japan in 1997. If you include that, then Awakening is the 14th Fire
Emblem game.

Additionally, the interview reveals the truth behind the characters'
feet (see the bottom of Page 3)...

Week 9 DLC + European demo impressions
(28th March 2013)

Not long after the European demo went live, the North American DLC
became available too.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot: here are the new names of the last bunch
of legacy characters, collected by Shadow Stalker X.

SF/Japanese
name

NOA name

SF/Japanese
name

NOA name

Narshen/Nacien

Narcian

Ishtar

Ishtar

Trabant

Travant

-

-

Meanwhile, as I promised earlier, I've been
crazily playing the European demo. Let me just say it feels really
weird finally playing the game I've wrote so much about! But anyway,
I won't bore you with my experience.

Instead, I'll mention that the localisation has been quite kind to
us British folks. Normally, I'm used to seeing American spellings
like "armor" and "specialize" appear in my Fire Emblem games,
but this time I've seen nothing but British spellings; even the very
squashed "Hair Color" option when creating your Avatar has been
changed to "Hair Colour".

Furthermore, I noticed they changed Slide Guide 11, which I thought
sounded really weird previously, to talk about "bonus damage"
instead of "effect".

That said, I won't feel truly safe until I see "armour" and not
"armor"...

European demo out + poll results (28th
March 2013)

Almost 2 hours later than expected, the Fire Emblem: Awakening free
demo is now out on the European eShop!

I'm currently in the middle of downloading the demo as I write and
I'll probably post my impressions here later.

In other news, the results of Nintendo of America's character
popularity poll are now
up.

(Click image to load site)

According to NOA, we can expect a special cover photo, featuring the
top 10 characters, come 1st April 2013.

This episode begins a new mini-arc, which sees Chrom clash blades
with the forces of good and evil (and everything in-between). The
first episode lets players nab Ephraim from The Sacred Stones
as a playable guest character. It costs $3.00 by itself or you could
grab the Rogues Pack, which contains all 3 maps, for $6.50.

Meanwhile, the AMA session with Yusuke Kozaki
ended a while ago. You can find a summary of the Awakening-related
answers in this
topic (special thanks to Wheels).

Here's my favourite:

YoshiRider123: In addition to the character Katarina from the
DLC, were there any other legacy Fire Emblem characters that you
would have liked to illustrate for Fire Emblem Awakening?

The episode completes the Smash Brethren arc, pitting your units
against the combined might of Ike and Roy's armies. After completing
the mission, players can recruit Lyn from Fire Emblem (GBA)
and obtain the Iote's Shield Skill, which removes a unit's flying
weakness.

This episode allows players to recruit Eirika from The Sacred
Stones and obtain the Wedding Bouquet item, which lets any
female character access the Bride class. Like the previous episode,
it costs $3.00 if purchased by itself.

Additionally, the official Fire Emblem World
site has updated for the first time since October last year.

The slightly-underwhelming update simply informs visitors about the
upcoming Fire Emblem: AwakeningOriginal Soundtrack. For reference,
the full track list can be found here.
Nintendo also stealth-updated the character
gallery, adding the artworks for Gangrel and beyond.

According to the February NPD sales data (probably the only reliable
source of North American sales figures), Awakening didn't
manage to break into the top 10. However the game did well, selling
180,000 copies (117,000 physical and 63,000 digital). In comparison,
the previous entry Shadow Dragon sold 250,000 copies in its
lifetime (Source).

It's possible the shortage of physical copies might have led to
lower total sales and the large proportion of digital sales.

Meanwhile, the last time we heard about Awakening from
Nintendo of Europe was back in mid
February and, since then, they've been rather quiet. However,
it seems things are starting to change.

A few days ago, they started the
character spotlights that North American fans are probably familiar
with.

Additionally, Nintendo will have a Nintendo 3DS XL area at MCM
Birmingham Comic Con, which takes place from 16th - 17th March 2013,
and Awakening will be amongst the playable games (Source).

Finally, Nintendo of Europe wants to point our attention to the Iwata
Asks interview for Awakening; the interview's the same
as the North American one, but with a few changes, such as Casual
Mode being replaced with Newcomer Mode.

...Actually, while I'm here, I'd like to mention that the European Awakening
demo will be out in "early April" (Source).
This info was posted back in February, but I was too excited about
the 3DS XL bundle and totally missed it. Whoops!

Of note, Smash Brethren 1 marks the début of the Binding Blade
legacy characters (although they can't be recruited yet). Here are
the new names, collected by Shadow Stalker X.

SF/Japanese
name

NOA name

SF/Japanese
name

NOA name

Ray/Lleu

Raigh

Lugh/Lou

Lugh

Sofiya

Sophia

Baldo

Baldur

Cecilia

Cecilia

Saint Heim

Saint Heim

Percival/Perceval

Perceval

Barhara

Belhalla

Thany

Shanna

Chalphy

Chalphy

On the SpotPass front, players can now
access Paralogue 20: A Hard Miracle and recruit characters from the
Japanese-only Mystery of the
Emblem (well... all but three of the characters are from the
two DS remakes Shadow Dragon and Heroes of Light and
Shadow).